Study finds people who are miserable on Facebook are actually miserable in life

Have you ever found yourself alone on Facebook on a Friday night, stalking the photos of someone you didn't even like in high school, only to suddenly stop and seriously question the direction your life is heading? Uh, me neither.

Well, now there's even more research confirming that Facebook makes miserable people even more miserable. According to a new study published in the journal Psychological Science, people with low self-esteem in real life will tend to have low self-esteem on Facebook.

The study followed the status updates of 177 undergraduates and found that participants who test for low self-esteem have a Facebook pattern: their status updates are major downers. Let's have NPR explain, because it's just funnier that way:

"People with low self-esteem posted far more negative updates than those with high self-esteem… they described a host of unhappy sentiments, from seemingly minor things like having a terrible day or being frustrated with class schedules to more extreme feelings of rage and sorrow.

On the other hand, those with a healthy dose of self-esteem often wrote about being happy, excited or thankful for something."

Oh, those happy Facebook people. Always posting pictures of their gourmet sandwiches and telling us how grateful today's yoga class made them. Good to know they're actually as happy as they seem.

But maybe it's useful to know the people who sound miserable and whiny on Facebook are actually miserable in real life. Maybe all their "friends" will want to reach out to their cries for sympathy and love now? Nah.

"When researchers asked people rating the updates if they wanted to get to know those who wrote the negative posts, the answer was a resounding no."